


Coming Home

by Baekbitficfest



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 06:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10916466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baekbitficfest/pseuds/Baekbitficfest
Summary: The fate of the world depends on the epic battle between Demon king Baekhyun and Jongin, the world's greatest hero. That is until the two use a huge amount of magic against each other and somehow end up transporting themselves into an unknown and very foreign place - the human world.Written by saleto05 (http://saleta05.livejournal.com/)





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to leave some lovely comments for the writer!
> 
> Thank you for reading <3

_**Prompt #:** 14_

_**Pairing** : Baekhyun/Kai_

_**Rating** : PG-13_

_**Summary** : The fate of the world depends on the epic battle between Demon king Baekhyun and Jongin, the world's greatest hero. That is until the two use a huge amount of magic against each other and somehow end up transporting themselves into an unknown and very foreign place - the human world._

_**Word Count** : 16k_

_**Warnings** :  language, open ending_

_**Author's Note** : Thank the prompter so much for such an inspirational prompt. It's a magic that I did finish the fic. Even though there are some details aren't exactly as you want, I hope you enjoy it. And to the mods, thank you so so much for your kindness and patience, I had a wonderful time joining your fic fest  <3 _

 

The sky was looking so fine in her stunning azure gown, while those little clouds looked so fluffy and adorable wearing their purely lily-white dresses. Gentle winds were the true breaths of spring, permeating the pleasant scents of wet grasses and early-blossomed wild flowers. A beautifully soothing dawn chorus was at the background, and behind greenery foliage, the sun was-

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Baekhyun sprung up from the ground, almost broke his spine in the process, then almost broke his neck while frankly scanning around the surroundings, eyes widened to their maximum size. Hardly anything had the ability to terrify the Demon king, except the reflection of his own evening look in the mirror after waking up. But right then, he was challenged by which soon-to-be his fearless heart’s second exception.

 

In short, everything was appearing in the most erroneous state they could ever be.

 

The firmament above was supposed to be as pure white and smooth as an empty canvas. At least, for those flighty angels living in the Light Realm, it was indeed an enormous canvas, which could be turned into short-lived, offensively gaudy flowery paintings using some magic tricks. It hurt Baekhyun’s eyes so badly even when he just took a glance at it from afar. Meanwhile, in the Darkness Realm, the Demon king had ordered his subjects to leave the sky intact under any circumstances. It looked wrong and sounded wrong, having a vault in such a pure tone upon the land of such impure evils. Baekhyun did not give a damn, anyway.

The next thing was, clouds had been outdated for decades. They were hardly ever painted because one, they were useless, and two, even angels could get bored of themselves sometimes. If there was any cloud up to the sky again, surely, it would be in any color but white. On top of that, the plants’ scent were a tad too exotic, and the bird sounds were just plain extraordinary to his ears.

 

“What the pucking puck is this place?”

 

The Demon king mumbled to himself, only to be scared shitless by a baritone voice coming from behind.

 

“Same question here, leave out the ‘puck’ part.”

 

The demon turned around to meet the hero’s eyes, wondering if he should laugh or cry or do both at once.

 

Alright, everyone, all hail to the too-cool-to-know-you Jongin, the greatest hero of all time, the beloved son of all Gods, the muse of all epics, the owner of all delusional hearts, and of course, the biggest age-old enemy of Baekhyun. At the moment, his legendary opponent looked like a bunch of shit, and it became an instant source of comfort for Baekhyun even though his own condition was not better than the other’s at all.

 

Right before the final battle, they had sworn that it would be the very last time they saw each other alive. And look at what they were doing right then. Or, maybe that was it? That they both died in the fight, and this place was Sheol, where all sort of spirits arrived and waited for their after-death fate to come? Yet, everything about Sheol was just an obsolete legend, and Baekhyun’s whole body was aching a pinch too much to meet the physical death’s very first essential requirement. At the other end of the perplexity, Jongin was rubbing the back of his neck, face contorted ugly in pain.  

 

So, technically, both of them were still alive and squirming. So again, the only way to explain the whole situation was heading back to the unanswered question. Where exactly were they?

 

“Hey you motherf*ckers! What on Earth are you doing? Get off my lawn, RIGHT. NOW!”

 

The voice came from an elderly paunchy bald man who was storming out of nowhere and straight towards them, waving something like a wand but much bigger in the air with one hand. A big black four-legged animal was with him, growling and baring teeth, and its leash was secured haft-heartedly in his other hand. Their angry faces mirrored each other perfectly, telling that they were all ready to lose control.

 

“What the puck did he say?” Baekhyun asked, truly did not get a single word of what the old man had yelled passionately at them, “And puckit what is that scary creature over there?”  

 

“He uses so many strange words, I kind of got it but…I don’t know.”

 

Jongin, suddenly faced with an intractable lexical-semantic problem, stuttered in embarrassment. For the very first time in the hero’s whole existence, his flawless omnilingualism was cruelly proved to be impeccable no more. Oh dear, what an unwelcoming shock.

 

The old man was still yelling and shouting, but all his words were drown by the animal’s loud barks. Then, to no one’s surprise, the man unleashed his enraged beast, and both of them lunged towards the two uninvited guests with all of their might.

 

In such a situation, when safety was of the essence, Jongin barely had enough time to utter a brief…

  


“Run.”

  
  


\---

  
  


“One more time, one more pucking time and I swear I’ll quarter it into thousand pieces, that bescumbering rectagia hircismus fice!”

 

Baekhyun cursed, tossing the remnants of his rant in a kick at a random pole standing in his way. A loud clank of metal hitting the ground resulted as soon as he passed by, but the demon king was already annoyed way too much to get more annoyed.

 

“Actually, ‘quarter’ means cutting it into four, not thousand pieces.” Picking up the ill-fated pole and pitching it back to its place swiftly, Jongin blurted out the correction, kindly ignored Baekhyun’s strings of weird offensive language in the meantime.

 

“Oh, so our hero’s speaking now!” The demon king sneered loudly, didn’t care to tone down his sarcasm or slow down his pace.

 

“You kicked it in the face already. Your wound didn’t even bleed, and I’m sure it’s healed completed by now, so just let it go.” Jongin said half-heartedly. He kept himself one step behind Baekhyun, eyes scanning their surroundings and mind striving to figure out where they were.

 

“That bloody teethball bit me! Nothing or no one has ever allowed to be alive after hurting me, but that damn creature _does_ , and that’s thanks to _you_ , so shut up!”

 

The smaller snapped, baring his teeth to the thin air. For someone who was angry, he looked just fine. For a Demon king, that furious expression was an epic fail.

 

The race between them and the fast-and-furious duo ended quite beautifully, with only a tiny bite mark, now-healed on Baekhyun’s right calf and the creature’s loss of two front teeth being on the damage list. But, after a while of running blindly, another problem arose.

Yet again, they were lost, this time in a forest of towering run-down walls, and those narrow paths spreading out just to join up again at random points was the worst.  

 

“ _Motherf*cker, what on Earth are you doing?_ ”

 

Baekhyun blurted out while reluctantly following Jongin with his head hanging low. The ground underneath his feet started spinning, probably thanks to the scorching fireball above. He was, literally, allergic to strong lights and anything that produce heat. One couldn’t expect a good relationship between a demon and the bright side, after all.

 

“Excuse me?” Jongin stopped and turned around, almost having a whole Baekhyun crash into his chest.

“What?” the demon glowered at his ‘companion’, irises a crimson shade and voice so harsh he himself was taken aback.  

“I’m just not sure if I heard you right, something about mother and _Earth_ , if I’m not mistaken,” Jongin answered with a frown, “and you don’t look very fine.”

 

Baekhyun didn’t even care to hide the intense annoyance on his face.

 

“Just kind of repeat what that coot said. It’s something like _Motherf*cker what on Earth are you doing_ , though I absolutely have no idea what that shit could mean. And yes I’m feeling funny as puck so can we just cut this stupid chit-chat short and find the way back home before I literally explode?”

 

Something was dawning on Jongin, not only that Baekhyun was capable of imprinting everything on his mind even if it was utterly useless, but also a hint of the place they were trapped in. After a few seconds of connecting the dots, the hero came to a conclusion that _motherf*cker_ was a profanity and didn’t indicate to anyone’s mother in particular, and _Earth_ may be how this world was called.

They went on in silence for a while, when Baekhyun, again, found himself mumbling some more nonsense he heard from the old man. Since those peculiar words kept swirling in his head, he had no choice but spitting them all out.  

 

“ _How dare you kick my dog, stop right there,_ _do not let me see your face anywhere in Seoul or I swear I’ll kill you both._ Geez, that old fart really has stamina, running and shouting his lungs out all the way. _”_

 

This time, Jongin had less to no difficulty translating it into the language both of them could understand.

 

“And by ‘Seoul’, I guess that’s how we should call this place.”     

  


He added and paused for a moment to look around, causing the shorter man, demon, to bump into his back for real. The demon was so ready to snap, but what had just come in sight had Baekhyun abandon that intention immediately.

 

Somehow, they’ve got out of the ‘maze’, now to find themselves struggle to breathe in between an ocean of people. Streams of humans were flowing out from every crack of every wall and swallowing every millimeter square of space. Every time a new flow came out, it caused just the slightest of ripple spread across the surface. Some people gathered in groups at a certain spot, only to squeeze themselves into something like an oversize iron blue worm. Behind them, the moving figures kept moving, some were running, until they crashed into each other’s silhouettes and disappeared. Just a little bit further beyond that chaos, hundreds and hundreds of shining bugs in different sizes and colors were crawling in endless lines, groaning and shrieking and releasing dark smoke from their butts.

 

Another giant worm, in yellow this time, had just stopped for another squeezing game. The noises were almost unbearable. People were everywhere but the sky, and no one seemed to care about the presence of the two invaders.

 

Talking of the sky, Baekhyun looked up to realize that its color was changing to a paler, slightly dirtier shade of blue.

 

Someone slightly bumped their shoulder into Baekhyun’s, leaving a halfhearted ‘sorry’ when they passed by, without taking their eyes off of the tiny thing on their hand. Just a few seconds later, the very same went for Jongin. The longer they stood still, the more bumps and pushes they got. Both of them then got the hidden message that they only had two options: go with the flow, or being crushed under those human tides.

“What the puck is happening? Why so many people?” Baekhyun looked around in utter confusion, squeezing himself in between the moving bodies while hand clutching at Jongin’s sleeve so tight he almost ripped it apart.

 

“And where the puck are they going?”

 

“Most of them go down there. I guess that’s where we’re going to too.”

 

Jongin beckoned to a place beyond Baekhyun’s vision, taking advantaged of his height to look at the sign above a stairs leading to something like a huge rabbit hole. Or a huge human hole, in this case. He was able to read the sign, yet what a ‘subway’ could mean? Jongin had never felt more foolish in his entire existence.   

 

Once they went downstairs, the two regretted their decision instantly. If there was a vast ocean of people up there, this underground world was like an enormous human tank. It was bursting at the seams, and the horrendous mixture of odor had Baekhyun hold his breath, while Jongin was looking up at the ceiling, desperately searching for some air. Somewhere above their heads, a female robotic voice managed to make herself heard, confusing her guests some more with those convoluted babble.

 

While Jongin was still scanning the place as if someone would jump out and cut his head off, Baekhyun found that seeking for some fresh air was a much more essential task to do. Didn’t have any hope upwards, the demon lowered his head, taking the advantage of his tiny personal space. At that time, he saw something got stuck underneath his shoes.

 

“What’s this?”

 

The demon picked it up and fixed his eyes on it. The thing looked like a small, rectangle piece of paper, but it was pink, much harder, and decorated with some funny characters. He stared, touched, listened to, even smelled and bit the piece, but still no clue.

When he looked up to show Jongin what he’d got, the taller man had already stood in one of the lines of human few meters away. “Tsk!” an angry Baekhyun stormed his way to the hero, mercilessly hit his back in revenge, and almost had his toes crushed under the other’s boots.

 

“You’re not allowed to leave me behind, peasant!” said the ignored king.

 

“Stop following me!” groaned angrily his ‘peasant’.

 

“No.” Baekhyun spat, effectively made Jongin roll his eyes and ignore him harder.

 

Baekhyun tilted his head aside to look ahead, watching people passing a super short, peculiar short pillars. He also could see there was one exact pillar for every line, and everyone had to sweep something on the top of the pillar before they passed it. It was yet too far to see what they put on though.

The line soon shortened as they were getting closer and closer to the spot. From that distance, finally Baekhyun was able to see the thing those human used. It very much resembled the pink piece he was holding in his hand. But his was pink, while the others’ were in every color but it. That was just even more confusing.  

 

“Hey, what are they doing?”  

 

“…”

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“…”

  


_Slap!_  Baekhyun scored another point by preciously hitting the back of Jongin’s neck with his pretty hand.

Covering the hurt spot while trying not to yell, the hero turned around to send the smaller man a death glare, seeing clearly that Baekhyun was so eager to begin a stare war.

 

“Move on, please!”

 

A young girl behind Baekhyun dared enough to interrupt, causing both men to look at her with complicated eyes. Being awed by both their angry look and their exotic features, the poor girl almost shrank herself into a small ball, yet still found enough strength to stand on her feet while correcting her words.

 

“I mean, it’s your turn.”

 

The two men met their gaze again, confusion was the main theme this time. Jongin blinked and while Baekhyun stared, both looked like they were trying to ask each other what to do.

 

“I think they use this? I saw people putting something like this on that thing, but nothing looks exactly like this one. Will this work?” The demon showed the pink piece for the hero to see, highly doubting his own theory.

 

“I have no idea.” Jongin confirmed his cluelessness. “Why don’t you just try?”

 

“But what if this isn’t the thing we should use? I mean I found it on the ground.”

 

Baekhyun looked at the piece on his hand again, his inherent, unnecessary worries started to hinder the thinking process. Someone started to complain, the others were burning holes through their skulls, and Jongin was still urging him to do something with the thing. The demon king found himself on the verge of panic.

 

The girl behind, although had just been scared by them few seconds ago, found Baekhyun so adorable looking entirely lost like that. She hadn’t figured out yet who exactly those two young men could be, and why they looked like they were from another planet, but god, she swore that she had never met any idols who was _that_ attractive before.  

 

“Excuse me, do you need help?”

 

She offered, chuckling softly as the taller male had nodded his head even before she finished asking.

 

“So you’ve got a card like this already, right?”

 

She raised her card to demonstrate. The demon didn’t understand the question, but he was quick enough to show her the thing in his hand. The two cards were in different sizes and different colors, but Baekhyun believed it didn’t matter anymore, for the girl had given him an approved nod.

 

“Okay, please watch me then, I’ll do it first.”

 

The girl walked pass them to the ‘pillar’ and swept the yellow piece in her hand on the top of it. There was a soft _beep_ , then she moved to the other side, easily pushing the white bar standing in her way forwards as she did so. The girl turned around and explained briefly to the two men once she had passed.

 

“All you need to do is putting your card on the machine and waiting for the _beep_. If you guys have only one card, then just do it twice.”

 

Of course, Baekhyun didn’t understand what she said, but that was now Jongin’s job. He snatched the card from Baekhyun’s hand, following the girl’s instruction - sweeping the card first time for himself to pass, then doing it again for the demon.

 

The girl was even kind enough to lead them to the subway, and before they had to slide into different subway cars, Jongin had made sure that how thankful they were to her help.

 

“Why is that little soul so nice? She even doesn’t know we are.” Baekhyun asked, eyes following the girl until she disappeared into the crowd.

 

“Not everyone is as evil as you are, that’s why.” Jongin answered matter-of-factly as he walked pass Baekhyun, towards the car’s entrance which looked exactly like a deep hole sucking people in. Despite the sulk, the demon was more determined to not let himself be left behind.

 

“Are you sure we should get on this thing?” The demon asked again, already came back to his position behind Jongin’s back.

 

Confidently, the hero nodded his head while they danced their way into the subway car.

  
  


\---

  
  


“I really shouldn’t have listened to you!” growled lowly the demon once they got inside.

 

Although the subway car was spacious enough at first, it was bursting at the seams within seconds because of people after people coming in. They couldn’t even lift a singer without bumping into another shoulder or stepping on someone else’s shoes, but it had already been too late to find a way out.

When the subway started to run, Baekhyun realized his worst nightmare had just officially begun.

 

“I’m dying!”

 

The demon mumbled heavily while trying his best to keep his nostrils save from a man’s armpit.

 

“Do it quickly.”

 

The hero replied in an undertone, secretly struggling to keep his face from being smashed at the window by a chunky lady who kept pressing against his back.

 

Thanks to the above, after like a century had passed, the subway finally stopped and released the people inside, just in time to save Baekhyun from metaphorically die of air poisoning.

 

“Now what?”

 

The demon was astonished by how horrible he sounded. His voice tended to darkened and get harsher whenever its owner wasn’t in his best condition. Well, with that gigantic amount of magic he had spent on the battle and the ridiculously bizarre situation he was involved in, even the demon king had to feel exhausted.

 

Baekhyun looked at his opponent to see no better expression worn on the other’s face, and he knew they shouldn’t expect even the greatest hero to be cool and wise for the time being. It was proved right away when “We should find somewhere to rest” was the best solution Jongin could give. The demon got nothing to complain.

 

By Baekhyun following Jongin, and Jongin following wherever the roads lead them to, the dual kept searching for a place to sit down without being afraid that they had to run for their life again. The night had fallen already, and surroundings them, hundreds of _artistra_ in many shapes and colors were lightening up the streets and every building they walked by.

 

“ _Artistra_?”

 

Jongin was perplexed. It seemed like even the most basic concept was able to mess up his mind badly. He guessed that was just because of tiredness, which was really, really rare.

 

Baekhyun temporarily shifted his attention back to the taller man, realizing that it was him who was taking the lead, while Jongin being his confused follower.

 

“We use them to light things up, just like the way people here use these things.” The demon explained, still pacing forwards to where he hadn’t known yet.

 

“Thought you only stick with fire?” Jongin blinked.  

 

“Well, fire is used during half of the day, _artistra_ are for the other half.” Baekhyun answered, matter-of-factly, “There is no sun or moon or real stars in the Dark Realm, so we use them to distinguish between days and nights.”

 

The hero was, secretly, amazed and ashamed. Alright, he couldn’t blame on tiredness for this serious lack of knowledge, for the fact that he hadn’t never put enough time to learn about _the other world_. Well, not that much.

 

He intended to say something else but soon forgot, because they had seen a big sign read _Seoul Forest_ , and Baekhyun dashed into it as if he had just come home. Only to fall into another pool of confusion few seconds later.

 

“Are we seriously in a forest?” bleated the demon, too worn-out to care of the passer-by’s eyes gluing on them.

 

His question fell on deaf ears. Jongin had already settled himself down on a bench with his legs spreading out, head holding low, shoulders drooping, and eyes shutting. The hero was all ready to fall asleep.

 

And he really did.

 

Despite not even getting a chance to sulk, Baekhyun admitted that Jongin was right - nothing should be matter more than a sleep right now. Too proud to lean on the other man’s shoulder, yet too afraid to be left behind while sleeping, the demon chose to sit at the other end of the bench. One of his legs stretched out to meet Jongin’s, while the other pulled up to his chest as he circled his arms loosely around it and rest his left cheek on the knee. It wasn’t a comfort position at all, he knew. But again, nothing mattered more than his sleep.

 

Both had gone so far into the dreamland, too far away that only the cold hard touches of something wet falling down on their faces could wake them up. Baekhyun was the first to spring up from his seat, grabbed a heavily drowsy Jongin with one hand, and ran to the nearest shelter that came into sight.

 

Few seconds after, the rain got heavier, and kept going on like it had never been before. Watching the whole scene in front of them getting soaked, Baekhyun was more relieved than not. Finally, there was one thing of this strange world that he found familiar. It rarely rained on the land of evil, but once it did, it was always as heavy as the one they were caught in. Baekhyun snapped his finger to nothing, didn’t really mind to embarrass himself again in his nemesis’ witness.

 

“Most of your abilities won’t work here. So do mine.”

 

The hero stated, struggled a bit to make himself heard through the loud noises of rain falling on the shelter.

 

“Then which ones of yours still work? Understand languages, and…?” The demon king asked, out of both curiosity and defense mechanism.

 

“Something physical, but I’m not sure yet.” Jongin shrugged, hands rubbing his eyes to force them open wide.

 

“It’s weird. I even struggled to understand the language spoken here. It’s never happened before.”

 

“Well, it’s pucking happening right now.”

 

Baekhyun mumbled as he snapped his fingers a few more times, while the avalanche of water was still showering down on them.

 

“Seems like I’m pretty much useless.”  The demon continued without looking at the hero, sarcasm soaking his tone. “What a great chance to kill me, don’t you think so?”

 

“Kicking a demon when he’s down isn’t my way.” Jongin stated, trying to refrain himself from yawning.  

 

“Oh, so it isn’t because you’re too weak to even stay awake now?” Baekhyun sneered, way satisfied receiving a death glare from the taller.

 

“It’s not the time for your crap, Baekhyun.” Jongin grumbled in annoyance, wrinkles were all over his face.

 

“Then when?” Baekhyun raised his eyebrows, lips curving up into a mischievous smirk, “We have almost no powers, no ideas of what to do, where to go, how to get back home. What else should we-”

  


“HELP! HELP!”

  


A deafening cry cut Baekhyun off, and before he could figure out what was happening, Jongin had already dashed out of the shelter to chase after something the demon couldn’t see clearly. Right behind him was the man who had just screamed for help, both running for their life despite the heavy rain and Baekhyun’s shout.

 

“What the puck is happening?”

 

The demon started to get sick of repeating the same question over and over, but except asking himself so, he didn’t know anything better to do. He had thought about following the two men, but he wasn’t fond of the thought of getting lost for the second time in such a terrible weather.

 

Reluctantly waiting alone under the tiny shelter, Baekhyun continuously cursed Jongin for always being hyperactive whenever hearing someone’s call for help. Almost all of the heroes he had dealt with was like that, but Jongin was really the hardest case. Baekhyun couldn’t suppress a heavy sigh. It hadn’t been even a day yet since he had been thrown into this world, and Baekhyun had already felt like he had survived a whole century.

 

The demon almost dozed off when he heard footsteps coming from the end of the empty road. The rain had been subsiding, and it was easy for Baekhyun heard Jongin’s voice from afar, talking to someone else as they were approaching him. From the towering height and his clothes, Baekhyun was quite sue that he was the man Jongin had helped. Both men was soaked from head to toes, but looked like none of them care about it. On the stranger’s hand, there was something quite small, all black and furry. The thing was moving, and by the time they reached the shelter, Baekhyun had realized what the man was holding.

 

A _dog._   

 

“Where the puck did you go?”

 

The demon asked right when the hero arrived, taking a few steps back in the form of making room for the stranger, although his real purpose was purely related to the dog. Jongin might see that, but he was too busy rubbing water off his face to give it any further care.

 

“I’m so so sorry, I really didn’t mean to bother you two, but this dog suddenly ran away and I can’t lose it.”

 

The stranger was the first to reply, an apologetic smile was on his face. His deep voice and youthful features were entirely unmatched, and Baekhyun could say how small and fragile Jongin looked like while standing next to him. Besides his height and his dog, Baekhyun found nothing else in Chanyeol that could make him a potential threat. Which was pretty good, by the way.

 

Despite the slightest of liking for the man, Baekhyun was still a demon king, whose smiles were as rare as midnight rainbow. So, he kept staring at the towering man, or more at the dog in his arms, with his face showing no sign friendliness. It was showing nothing at all, to be exact.

 

Since there was no reaction from Baekhyun, the conversation fell into silence. Only until that moment did the man noticed something. He actually didn’t know what kind of language Baekhyun was speaking, also realized that the smaller was having the same problem.

 

Luckily, before things could get more awkward, Jongin had come to the rescue.

 

“Chanyeol said he is sorry for disturbing us. His dog ran away so I helped to get it back.”

 

Baekhyun nodded half-heartedly, as his attention now was more on how to stay as far as possible away from the dog than on the two other men. Mistaking Baekhyun’s silence as the sign of anger, Chanyeol continue to both thank and apologize profusely, even though he didn’t have enough courage to look at Baekhyun.

 

“Actually Vivi, I mean this dog, is not mine. It my boss’, and he asked me to take care of it while he’s at work…”

 

“Chanyeol ah.” Jongin tried, and failed to catch the taller man’s attention.  

 

“I was trying to walk it home when it ran off, and I had to chase after it for almost 15 minutes…”

 

“Chanyeol.” The hero’s second attempt was also failed.

 

“Seriously, I wouldn’t be able to have it back if it weren’t for your boyfriend…”

 

“Chanyeol!”  

 

It was Baekhyun who called, and the man’s ramblings instantly came to a stop. The way Chanyeol looked at him reminded Baekhyun of the girl they met at the subway, stunned and terrified. It definitely wasn’t the first time the demon king saw such a reaction to his natural intimidating aura, but it didn’t mean Baekhyun always enjoyed the feeling of being scared by people.  

 

“He thinks you’re mad at him.” Jongin explained briefly.

 

“But I’m not? Why should I get mad at him?” Baekhyun blinked in confusion. Jongin shrugged.

 

“Okay listen, I’m not angry at all. Me, mad, you, no no no.”

 

The demon aimed those words to Chanyeol, using both words and his whole body in order to make himself understood, still didn’t know that the only thing he needed to do was smiling. Meanwhile, Chanyeol’s eyebrows almost knitted into one line as he tried to get Baekhyun’s message, but seemed like it had been done in vain.

 

Finally, the hero had to meddle in the talk again. And from that point, Jongin decided that Baekhyun really should shut up and let he should do all the talking for the time being.

  


It was easing, but judging by how the sky was still painted in a dull shade of red, the rain might go on for the rest of the night. Baekhyun didn’t really care, just like how he ignored the way the other two men kept stealing glances at him while talking to each other. He kept himself partly behind Jongin’s back, but since they were sharing a quite small space, there was no way he could avoid seeing Chanyeol and his dog.

The animal seemed to be tired after running around though, because except for staring at the three men with those sparkling big round eyes and yawning once in a while, it literally did nothing else. Talking about sparkling big round eyes, Baekhyun had noticed that Chanyeol’s got exactly the same orbs for his own. And during the conversation, Chanyeol’s face was making these weird expressions that had the corner of the demon’s lips itch.   

 

Right at the moment Baekhyun asked himself what to expect next, Jongin turned around.

 

Their eyes met in one second, and it was the hero who was taken aback first. Frowning, Baekhyun signaled the other to tell him what had happened. He saw how Jongin looked over his shoulder really quickly, probably to make sure that Chanyeol was distracted by his whining dog enough to not notice them.  

 

“Your eyes. They’re almost all white now.”

 

The hero whispered, as if the human could understand what he said, if Chanyeol ever cared to eavesdrop. And as a conditioned reflex, Baekhyun instantly looked down at his feet, head hanging as low as possible, and let his long black fringe did the rest in hiding his face away.

 

From Chanyeol’s angel, what he could see was Baekhyun leaning his forehead against Jongin’s chest, while the latter was comforting him with those warm, loving whisperers in the language only they understood. Luckily, it was quite dark, and Vivi had done such a good job as a distraction, orthewise Chanyeol wouldn’t know how to deal with the flush coloring his cheeks right then.

 

“I’m just…tired,” Baekhyun explained to Jongin, voice unknowingly getting lower to match the hero’s. “It usually happens when I lack of sleep.”

 

“I’ve told Chanyeol our situation and he said he can help, so whatever you do, just don’t freak him out.” Jongin summed up the whole conversation between him and Chanyeol in one sentence, still kept his voice as loud as possible.

 

“What? You told him the whole thing?” Baekhyun looked up at the hero, head keeping down, which made his glare even more terrifying. “Even about who we are and why we’re stuck in this damn world?”

 

“Of course not! Actually, he helped me a lot to make up a story by asking and asking. All I needed to say is ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” Jongin shrugged, couldn’t hold back an amused smile glancing at the tall guy behind him.

 

“And now he believes that we are boyfriends. I’m from somewhere very far from here while you come from… _Japan_ or something like that. We have _eloped_ with each other and now we don’t know how to survive. So Chanyeol said he would help, to requite what I did for him.”

 

“Alright, I got it.” The demon nodded curtly, his head started to spin around again. “Just tell me what the puck does _Japan_ mean? And _eloped_ , and even that _boyfriends_?”

Again, his questions met Jongin’s shrug, and Baekhyun was pretty sure that the hero would dislocate his shoulders if he did it one more time.

 

“I guess _boyfriends_ mean friends who are boys, isn’t that obvious? _Japan_ is the name of another land, like _Seoul_ , while _eloped_ is close to _lost,_ maybe?”  

 

To Baekhyun, Jongin sounded more like he had just passed those questions back to him instead of replying to them. Rubbing his face in frustration, the demon knew it was better to focus on the main topic than wasting more of his energy on Jongin’s broken translation.

 

“So how that human will help?”

 

“He said you and I can stay at his house for a while, and maybe show us the way how to make it. We’ll go there as soon as his friend comes to pick him up.” Jongin said, turning to look at Chanyeol again to see the tall guy was looking back at them, a soft knowing smile was on his face.

 

Baekhyun also saw that smile when he glanced up really quickly to make sure the dog was still under Chanyeol’s control. He also hoped that Chanyeol wouldn’t mind much if he were to see the demon kind in his most monstrous, iris-less form.

 

“He’s a very nice guy.”

 

Jongin commented, still letting Baekhyun use his whole being as a shield, since none of them wanted to see Chanyeol running under the rain and crying for help like crazy ever again. Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed in doubt. The hero had already known this small demon would say something like…

 

“Is it just me or this giant human is too good to be true?”

 

“It’s just you, Baekhyun.”

 

The hero sighed, eye catching the light of what Chanyeol called his friend’s _car_ coming from afar. As soon as the car pulled over, Chanyeol opened the rear door and beckoned them to get in.

 

Jongin added before taking the lead to enter the car. “Or that’s what I hope.”  

  
  


\---

  
  


“Is this also what you have hoped for?”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes didn’t shift from the king size bed covered in red velvet sheet. The bed also featured a heart-shaped headboard and pillows in matching shape and color. On the ceiling, there was a flamboyant chandelier radiating the weirdest shade of pink the demon had ever seen. On top of that, sitting in the middle of the bed was a black box full of bizarre stuff, some looked like thick short sticks, some resembled rings or bracelets, but much uglier and bigger than both, while the rest were simply indescribable.

 

“No. Not at all.”

 

Jongin replied shaking his head, jaws tensing and eyes opening wide as he was staring at the super-sized picture right on the wall. There were both men and women, tangling up with each other without any clothes on, reminding Jongin of the enormous snakes den he had fallen into when he was a child. To top it all off, sitting in the middle of the bed was a black box full of bizarre stuff, some looked like thick short sticks, some resembled rings or bracelets, but much uglier and bigger than both, while the rest were simply indescribable.

 

Suddenly, the hero felt a strong urge to cringe.

 

The two of them then fell back into silence. Both were lost in their own thoughts, with Baekhyun trying to figure out how to feel and think about the situation, and Jongin striving to understand what Chanyeol’s wink and his “Have fun” meant when he urged them into this room then disappeared.

 

The room was at the top of a high building, from which they could have a quite impressive night view of a part of Seoul. It was also the fact that stopped Baekhyun from jumping out of the window and running for his life. There was something about the place that just wasn’t right, although from the outside, the building looked completely harmless. Or that was because Chanyeol had taken them inside using a back door.

 

The demon could swear that tiredness wasn’t the only cause of his dizziness anymore.

“Tell me you aren’t thinking what I am thinking.”

 

Jongin breathed, now that all his muscles and nerves were more stressed out than ever.

 

“I’m not thinking what you are thinking. I’m feeling it.”

 

Baekhyun confirmed, swallowing dryly as he was trying hard not to be overwhelmed by all the sensations. Jongin threw a glance at the smaller man, didn’t have to guess to know what shade Baekhyun’s irises had changed to. In a room of sickening red and conspicuous obscenity like this, the demon’s eye color just fitted right in.

 

“What if I turn off the lights?” Jongin suggested, seriously doubting his own solution.

 

“Not better. It can’t stop this whole place from reeking of that…scent.” The demon groaned under his breath, seriously struggling to not disgrace himself in front of his greatest enemy. It didn’t seem to work, though.

 

Being unnerving himself, Jongin sighed heavily before reaching for the door knob, beckoning to the demon. Before things could go more wrong for both…

 

“Let’s just get out of here.”

  


“Going somewhere, sir?”

 

Right when Jongin pushed the door open, a ten-feet-tall beast in the form of a bald man in black jumped out of nowhere, using his bulky body to block the way out.

 

“We’re leaving.”

 

The hero stated firmly, refusing to back down even though he almost sprained his neck to match his gaze with the giant. As in the worst scenario, Jongin hoped that what had been left of his strength would bring them out of the building without making a fuss.

 

“Why are you two in such a hurry? Is there any problem with our service?”

 

The giant was smiling, and even Baekhyun got this intense chill shooting down his spine. He might know what Jongin had planned on his mind, and honestly, the demon didn’t have much of a good feeling about that. Not at all.

 

“We just don’t want to stay, now get out of my way!”

 

Jongin’s voice reached its threatening tone, the one he always used whenever Baekhyun was successful at getting on his nerves.

 

The giant, however, didn’t budge. And Baekhyun believed that the man’s facial muscles were frozen because he kept going on without taking that putrid smile off his already hideous face. The demon now was sure he didn’t have any good feeling about what was happening right then.  

 

“Certainly, sir! Please let us help with your belongings before you write your check.”

 

Jongin’s eyebrows automatically raised up at the strange term, while Baekhyun was wondering why Jongin hadn’t punched the life out of that dolt yet.

 

“What do you mean? Write what check?”

 

Meanwhile, the bald giant still insisted on showing them his most horrendous smile, and the more he talked, the wider and creepier that smile became.

 

“I’m so sorry for my impoliteness, sir. Of course you’re going to pay in cash.”

 

“What are you trying to say?” Jongin frowned tightly, a deep black furrow was carved in between his brows.

 

“I want to meet Chanyeol,” he demanded.

 

“There is no one of that name here, sir.” The giant replied calmly, the smile slowly turned into a thin straight line lying across his face. “May I show you the way to the receptionist? You can make payment using your card there.”

 

“Look, I don’t understand half of what you said, and I’m not going to pay or do anything for you!” The hero warned the taller man through his clenched teeth, “Now get the puck out of my way or you would regret it!”

 

A long stretch of heavy silence passed by, and finally the bulky man got rid of his own fake smile, replacing it with a much more intimidating smirk.  

 

“Alright, if you insist.”

 

The giant then took few steps aside, but that wasn’t it. As soon as Jongin and Baekhyun got out of the room, they were greeted by four more, and none showed any sign of goodwill on the way they looked.

 

“We’re done.”

 

Baekhyun mumbled, mostly to himself, already thinking of how it would feel to be crushed under these Titans’ feet. A powerful demon king who ended up being killed not by a hero, but by some random non-magic creatures in a world whose name only had already sounded so dirty. Baekhyun suddenly felt an urge to laugh his heart out. Oh wait, he haven’t got a heart, oops.

 

“Not yet.”

 

Jongin stated, before lunging forward like a bolt and throwing a roundhouse at the nearest man’s face. The hero did it with all his might, and if his strength had been in its original, the blow would have smashed the man into million pieces.    

 

Yet, except for the smallest move of the ‘victim’, which indicated that Jongin’s fist had reached the right target, nothing else happened.

 

“Get them!”

  


In the blink of an eye, each of them was cornered by two giants. Baekhyun gave in instantly, right after he saw how Jongin groaned in pain and his cheek reddened by the punch of the guy he had attacked few seconds ago. The hero was still conscious, but no one could say for how long. The demon could only watch when the two giants frog-marched Jongin toward the right end of the hallway, while he himself was taken to the left. Baekhyun couldn’t help but mumbling in an undertone.

  


“We’re officially done now.”

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Jongin stirred in his sleep when something warm and wet licking up his cheek. He intended to ignore it, but since that thing started to bark loudly right to his ear, Jongin was forced to open his eyes, only to have a white fur-ball gracefully walked over his face.

 

“What the---?”

 

He cursed, but stopped right when his eyes met a blondie, who was using that eagle eyes to stare at him from across the room.

 

Judging merely by the look, the stranger was just around his early twenties. The young man’s dark grey suit fit the big black chair he was sitting on perfectly, and thanks to the thin streak of sunlight peeking through the sheer black curtains, his hair definitely became the brightest and most shining object in the room. On the man’s lap lay a small white dog, the one that had just ‘helped’ to wake Jongin up. Its facial expression, unsurprisingly, was exactly the same as its owner’s.   

 

At first, Jongin was pretty much disoriented. He didn’t know that man, and even wasn’t sure of who he was. He rubbed his eyes and kept looking around the place with a blank stare, until his brain caught up with reality, reminding him who he was, where he was, and what he was doing here.

 

“Back to Earth yet?”

 

Jongin’s attention was dragged back to the stranger, whose eyes had been fixing on him from the beginning. Apparently, the male was much more handsome and less intimating than those giants last night, but there was something in his aura that told Jongin to be extremely cautious. At least he wasn’t smiling, or showing any sign of emotions on his face in general.

 

“Who are you?” Jongin asked. Was it just him or that dog looked somewhat familiar?

 

“Just a humble owner of this place,” the blonde slurred, as if he was so dead exhausted for even just his lips to move. “You can call me…”

 

“OH SEHUN!”

 

A booming, high-pitched voice stormed into the room out of the blue, followed by an echoing bang of the door being shut carelessly. Even Sehun was shocked by the violent appearance of the third man, and the dog seemed to only wait for that to bark its head out.

 

It was a moment of awkwardness after that, when Jongin and the newcomer reluctantly exchanged a few complicated glances, while Sehun hugged and kissed his dog passionately in an attempt to calm it down.

 

“Shhh… There there Vivi, it’s okay, daddy is here. Don’t be afraid, huh? Jongdae hyung just wanted to say hi.”

 

“Vivi?” Jongin repeated the dog’s name, and instantly understood why he found it familiar. His face darkened while remembering Chanyeol, that big-eared and big-eyed guy who had initiated this mess.  

 

As soon as the dog stopped barking, Sehun switched back to his serious mode, now using his deadly glare to stare down the culprit of his precious pet’s panic attack.

 

“How many times do I have to teach you to knock that fucking door?”

 

“And how many times do I have to remind you that _Saudade_ isn’t a fucking almshouse?” The guy named Jongdae exploded, having both hands on his hips while returning that glare to Sehun.

 

“You’re over-dramatic again.” The blond rolled his eyes as he didn’t want to continue the conversation, but surely, Jongdae wasn’t the type to just let it slip away.

 

While the two strangers continued their heated discussion about something Jongin wouldn’t ever fully understand, the dog Vivi had already claimed the hero’s lap as its new throne. It was slightly scary at first, having a living thing stay so close to him like that, but the way Vivi’s black round eyes looked at the hero had encouraged him. Slowly, he stroked itsback like what Sehun had done, and Vivi seemed to like it.

 

By the time Jongdae and Sehun were done, Jongin and Vivi had already got a friend from each other. Needless to say, Sehun looked like he was trying so hard not to let the world know how traumatized and betrayed he was. Jongdae was simply amused by the whole scene.

 

As Sehun had one of his giants ‘escort’ Vivi out of the room while Jongdae was doodling on a paper with a deep furrow on his forehead, Jongin got the signal that it was time to be really serious.

 

“Alright, let’s get down to business.” Sehun said, easily getting the full attention from the other two males. He began with Jongin first.

 

“So you, tell me what I need to know.”

 

“What do you need to know though?” The hero was genuinely confused. Jongdae had succeeded in suppressing his smile, and Sehun now looked like he was going to murder someone.

 

“He wants to ask who you are, where you’re from, how you and your friend could get into _Saudade’s_ VIP room without anyone knew, and your purpose of doing so.”

 

Jongdae volunteered to speak on behalf of his boss, still got that hint of an amused smile on his lips. Jongin didn’t know what was so funny, but obviously, he liked the man much better than the blonde.

 

“I really don’t know how to tell you…” Jongin paused a short while to arrange his words. “I mean, it’s a really long story, and…. you probably won’t believe it.”

 

The two men turned to look at each other, Jongdae waiting for Sehun’s approval. And when it seemed like Sehun was too busy getting over the agony his pet caused to his heart, Jongdae assumed that they were allowed to carry on without his boss’ mental presence.  

“Don’t worry, we love long stories. Go on, tell us then.” Jongdae told Jongin, giving him a supportive smile.

 

With the shorter male’s encouragement, Jongin nodded his head. He took a deep breath, and started to tell the story, from the very beginning.

  
  


\---

  
  


“Do you think they think I’m crazy?”  

 

Jongin asked when he and Baekhyun were sitting face to face in a corner of the room. The demon was happily eating something Jongdae called popcorn, while Jongdae himself and Sehun his boss were at the other end of the room, continuing to talk about bla bla bla.

 

Baekhyun lifted his head up from the box to shoot another glare to the two humans – one pretty short and the other just pretty – both looked like they just had a tail growing from their buttocks. Talking about butts, the demon just noticed that the blonde was seriously a full package.

 

Back to Jongin’s question, Baekhyun preferred not to waste his energy on thinking. “Aren’t we all crazy to begin with?” The demon stated, stuffing another handful of popcorn into his mouth.

 

“No matter what they think, I’m quite sure that they won’t let us go.”

 

“Why?” The hero’s eyes went a little wider, “but we didn’t do anything wrong to them?”

 

“Actually, we did.”

 

The demon corrected, snatching his unfinished cola can and taking a big gulf. He was going to love these kinds of food to death. Since Jongin was silent and still gazing at him, Baekhyun assumed that the hero was waiting for his explanation. Sighing softly, the demon said:

 

“Remember when that huge meatbag asked you to pay? It’s not because he wanted it, but because it’s a rule. It’s the same as in my kingdom, if you want something, you have to pay. We use souls, while here people use _check_ and _cash_ and _card_ . I guess they call those ‘ _money’_ in general.”

 

Jongin found the concept of paying for one’s wishes so…abnormal. In the Light Realm, no one had to pay. If they wanted something, they would just come to where it was and get it. Of course, they would have to ask for their Lord’s permission if the thing they wanted wasn’t common, but that was rare to happen.

 

“Just accept it, hero! The Earth was more like my place and less like yours.”

 

Baekhyun smirked, feeling much more confident since the moment he realized that fact. The demon had to admit though, when he found himself locked in an empty room, two giants guarding the door and no Jongin in sight, he was afraid. But somehow, Baekhyun was able to calm himself down, and that was when he was reminded of what-who he really was.

 

The whole place was still reeking of earthly sins and carnal desires, to the point it could spin him out of control at any time soon if he wasn’t careful. But that also meant one thing: No matter what happened, the demon king just couldn’t be killed. Only on the land of the purest souls would demons be weakened, or starved to death. Darkness was their best armor, while greed and lust their favorite dishes. Baekhyun had never found a more intense source of power than the place he was in. It could be another too-good-to-be-true offer, but for once, the demon didn’t mind it.

 

The sudden quietness in the room caught Baekhyun’s attention. He was chewing the last handful of popcorn when the two humans approached. He offered the vacant seat beside him, but the two subtly rejected his kindness, which made him pout. Meanwhile, Jongin looked like he was so ready to smash Sehun’s face.  

 

“We’ve made our decision.”

 

The blonde announced briefly, and while Jongdae was being in charge for the rest, he was standing tall with hands in his pants’ pockets, just like what a boss would do.

 

“Based on our evidences and your explanations, we decided that it isn’t worth to make a fuss out of last night incident.” Jongdae started with a somewhat friendly smile, watching closely for any reactions from their ‘guests’ while continuing. “But, business is still business. We can’t ignore the fact that you two did sneak into our hotel, break into one of our VIP room, do not cooperate with the guards, even attack one of them, and on top of that, you lied.”  
  
  
“What? We didn’t-“Jongin snapped, but it was Baekhyun who signaled him to keep silent.

 

“Due to all of the damages you caused to Saudade hotel, it’s our right to ask for a small compensation.” Jongdae went on smoothly, as if he had done it a million times already. “The price of the room you broke in last night is 10,000 dollars, which is equivalent to 11,380,687 won. Plus the cost for our reputation damage, the hospital fee for the guard you’ve attacked, and other potential damages related to the issue, we kindly request you to pay us 30.000 dollars, means 34,142,062 won.”

  
  
“That sounds like a big number.” Jongin commented, only meant for himself to hear.

 

Jongdae paused to catch his breath, then went in for the kill. “But, since you have got no money, no papers, no valuable belongings or property, and no one to contact, we’re convinced that you’re completely unable to afford the amount we asked for.”

 

“So…?” The hero started to swallow dryly. Baekhyun had just opened another popcorn bags.

  
  
“So, we decide to have both of you work for Saudade as full-time staff, just without salary, insurances, and the like. But of course, some other basic staff rights are still valid, including having break time, having holidays, taking days off, asking for promotion or salary increase. You also can have a room at our staff condo during your time here.” Jongdae smiled again, although there was no emotions showed in his voice. “Based on my calculation, you can complete your payment in 1 year, 2 month and 1 week, starting from tomorrow.”

 

“But what will we do?” The hero started to get lost due to information overloaded. His demon companion had just finished another can of coca.

 

“That’s a good question.” Sehun was the one who answered.

 

Jongdae nodded approval to his boss’ comment. “It took us a lot of time to consider it. So, for now, Jongin, you’ll start as a bellboy. Come back here at 7:00 tomorrow, we will have someone to train you. About Baekhyun…”

 

The demon looked up at Jongdae when his name was mentioned, totally clueless and indifferent about what was happening in the world. All he could understand was Sehun the blonde was striving to burn holes on his face, and Jongdae had just asked him something, but the demon couldn’t figure it out himself, for _‘do’_ was the only word he could hear from the question.

“He asked what you could do.” Jongin was back to be his reluctant interpreter.

 

“I can seduce anyone and take their soul away.” Baekhyun answered without a second thought.

 

“No not that,” the hero shook his head, “it’s about your skills, your personal talents.”

 

“But that’s my personal talent, also my skills!” the demon insisted. “There’s a reason that I’m the king of evils, you know?”

 

“So what else are you good at?” Jongin tried to save the situation by asking further.

 

“Spending souls. I know what is worthwhile and what’s not.”

 

“And…?”

 

“Ordering my people around, I guess? It’s always fun making them doing what they don’t want to do.”

 

The hero released a heavy sigh of surrender, and while he was scratching his head thinking about how to explain that to Jongdae, the demon suddenly added, in the most carefree manner.

 

“Oh, and I can sing.”

  


\---

  


The room Jongdae had mentioned turned out to go beyond their expectation. Actually, it wasn’t a room, but a small studio with two single beds, one bathroom, a cooking area, a TV area, also a tiny balcony. Or that was what Minseok, their floor’s administrator, had told them.

 

At least, to Jongin, sleeping on the bed was much more comfortable than spending the night on the cold hard ground, and Baekhyun was exuberant to find out how the hot shower worked. Minseok was even kind enough to show them how to use the stove and the TV, even though he had this incredulous look on his face when Jongin asked how to use the fridge.

 

Since they had nothing to unpackaged, the move-in had done within a record time. That night, Baekhyun had accidentally startled Jongin more than once while fooling around with the TV and remote control. At the third time, the hero exploded.  
  
  
“Just shut it up and sleep, can you?”

 

“I can’t sleep,” Baekhyun responded in an unusually excited voice tone, “This thing is so cool, everything is so cool! I can’t believe they’ve got such interesting things on Earth. Just look at it!”

 

Jongin slurred tiredly, making him sounded exactly like Oh Sehun. “We have work to do tomorrow, let me sleep.”

 

Baekhyun’s grin disappeared right when work was mentioned. Now he really regretted telling them that he could sing. He indeed could sing, and sang pretty well, but he had never wanted someone to hear his voice, and moreover, he even didn’t know how to speak the language, much less singing songs written in it.

 

“Jongin?” The demon called, and received an annoyed groan, or something sounded like a ‘what’ from the other.

 

“It’ll be fine, right?” Baekhyun asked, already turned off the TV and curled himself up into a ball under the blanket. “I mean, we will survive this, find a way back home, and everything will be good again really soon, right?”

 

Nothing from Jongin, and the demon believed that he had already drifted back into dreamland. Hugging a pillow tight, Baekhyun closed his eyes and tried to catch some sleep. He also believed that it was just him who heard Jongin replied to his stupid question. Something sounded like…

 

“Yeah, we will.”

  
  


\---

  
  


Jongin was quite confident to say that for someone like him, his first day working as a bellboy was a success. All he needed to do was greeting people, opening doors for them, putting their things on an oversized bird cage that had got wheels under it, get the things to the correct room number, wish people a good day, leave, and repeat it all over. An old lady even handed him some cash, and his instructor had to convince him that it was all okay to keep it for himself.   

 

Even though he went back to their room in a weary body and an aching back, Jongin still felt good enough to say hello to his roommate.

 

Baekhyun greeted him with wet cheeks and teary eyes, though.

 

“Wh-What-What’s wrong?”

 

Jongin stuttered, truly panicked by what he was seeing right then. He had known the demon since they were toddlers, through the stories he heard from the fairies about the other side of the universe. Their first meet hadn’t happened until their first battle against each other, the same time Jongin learnt that Baekhyun was his destined nemesis. The hero didn’t know if the demon king had known about that fact, but Baekhyun had never missed a single _‘due day’_ of them, and always swore to come back stronger next time. And he did. It was safe to say Jongin had seen Baekhyun in his worst moments, but never, never ever, had he seen the demon cry.

“Baekhyun, what happened?”

 

He came closer, didn’t dare to touch the other, but at least closer than he had ever done. It was also close enough for him to see the dark veins running along Baekhyun’s long, delicate neck. That was a bad sign.

  


“I…” the demon hurriedly wiped another tear threatening to fall off his eyes, “I couldn’t sing any requested songs, so the guests got angry…They shouted something at me but I even couldn’t understand that. Jongdae said I should went home and tried again the next day.”

 

“So…um, I guess you can try again tomorrow?” Jongin hesitated, didn’t know what else to say to comfort the upset demon.

 

“But I can’t! How the puck can I learn all the songs they want in a day? I even don’t know how to find those songs to listen to, okay?” Baekhyun groaned, being so angry at himself that his whole body started to tremble. “I’m useless here. Totally useless.”

 

Jongin found himself stuck. He was tongue tied, physically tired, and Baekhyun had been broken down right at the first day of work. But Jongin had learnt from the elders that, weeping and blaming oneself were never the right ways to deal with problems. If no one did nothing about it, tomorrow would just be as bad as yesterday.  

 

It was time for a hero to shine.

 

“Stay here.”

 

Jongin ordered briefly, then quickly disappeared behind the closed door. Left alone again, Baekhyun didn’t even care to stop himself from shedding some more tears, trying to forget what those people yelled at him. Definitely, this retentive memory of his was a curse. Tired of sitting on the floor, the demon slowly crawled into his bed, hugged his pillow, and planned to stay there until sleep came to snatch him away from the cruel reality.

 

But, the hero came back faster than Baekhyun had thought, and it was easy to realize that someone else had come along with him. The demon had sprang up from his bed even before the light was turned on, and that almost made Minseok run out of the door screaming his head off.  

 

“Oh my mother of Christ!”

 

Since Minseok was carrying something on one of his hand, the man clutched his left chest with his free one, gasping softly as he saw that it was just Baekhyun with his red eyes and not a monster. Well, he was almost right.

 

“Sorry…” Baekhyun uttered under his breath, although he thought he was him who was more scared by Minseok’s shout. When he spotted the thing the man brought along, Baekhyun couldn’t help pointing at it and asking right away. “What’s that?”

 

It turned out that Minseok was a very smart man, as he didn’t need Jongin to understand what Baekhyun wanted to ask. Showing the device for the demon to see, Minseok replied with just a word.

 

“Laptop.”

 

“Laptop?” Baekhyun repeated, receiving a nod, also a contented smile from the man. “What do you use it for?”

 

Again, Minseok had already got the question before Jongin could have a chance to open his mouth. He was quick to put the laptop down in the middle of the room, pulled out a long white wire from his hoodie’s pocket and used it to connect the device with the socket on the wall. The man then sat down, laptop in front of him, as he gestured Jongin and Baekhyun to come closer.

 

“First, open it, like this.”

 

Minseok said, demonstrating how it worked at the same time. He closed the laptop again right after that, then beckoned the demon to do it again.

 

With a little hesitation, Baekhyun did what he was told, but failed at the first time because he had forgot to press the tiny button in front of the laptop. It was Jongin who helped him recognize the mistake. Minseok looked very pleased.

 

In that way, the man patiently taught both of them how to use the device, from the basic steps like starting and shutting it down, to something more complicated as saving files and searching things on the Internet.

 

“Internet?” Baekhyun repeated, pointing at the colorful small symbol on the screen as if asking for Minseok’s confirmation.

 

“Yes, that’s right.” Minseok nodded his head with a tender smile, and Jongin swore that in a moment, the man looked exactly like his mentor, who taught him how to become a hero as he was now.    

 

Meanwhile, Minseok was typing something down from the keyboard. The screen had changed a couple of times, and before Baekhyun or Jongin noticed what was happening, music had already filled up the whole room.

 

“Wow! Wow, it’s so coooool! Jongin can you see it?”

 

Baekhyun made his voice sounded almost like a screech, also almost squeezed the life out of Jongin while expressing his affections for the laptop. Being the witness, Minseok couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laugh. He couldn’t believe that it was the same kid who had just sobbed for his miserable life an hour ago.

 

“All the top trend and newest songs are here.” Minseok said, and Baekhyun nodded his head frantically, although the man wasn’t sure if he was understood or not.  

 

“So…is that enough for you to learn new songs?” Jongin only asked after fully recovering from Baekhyun’s innocent attack. “Or you need something else?”

 

“Enough? No. Because this is the best!” Baekhyun stated it with his whole body, and when no one had expected it, the demon pulled Minseok into a very tight hug.

 

“Thank you thank you thank you so so much!”

 

He chanted, properly too high from excitement to even be aware of what he was doing. Minseok didn’t seem to mind the demon’s impulsive gesture, however, as he had that warm-hearted smile on his face while petting Baekhyun’s cheek.

 

“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

 

Jongin admitted while seeing Minseok off at the door. Baekhyun’s singing voice could be heard, even though he was trying to keep it as low as possible. It was likely that the demon would go on all night, Jongin just hoped that they wouldn’t become their neighbors’ nightmare.

 

“Nah, it’s nothing!” Minseok beamed, waving his hand dismissively. “Just please give that laptop back to me before tomorrow night. I promised to play LOL with someone.”

 

“Of course! I’ll bring it to your room,” Jongin looked at Baekhyun over his shoulder, then added, “right when Baekhyun let me touch it.”

 

Minseok followed the hero’s eyes and nodded, “He’s such a cute boy.”

 

“And an annoying brat.” Jongin finished, earning himself another amused laugh from Minseok.

 

They bid each other goodnight shortly after, and when Jongin slid himself under the blanket, Baekhyun had already been learning another song.

 

“Is Minseok too good to be true too?”

 

The hero heard himself asking, suddenly felt quite bad for doubting such a nice man. He was lucky, because the demon seemed to be so absorbed in the songs to even notice his existence. The hero wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of being deceived by someone he considered good friends again. Last time he did so, and they were eight-feet deep into debt.

 

“I wanna be a billionaire so fucking bad~”

 

Baekhyun sang, probably found his favorite tune since his head was nodding up and down while voice getting just a little bit louder.

 

It was going to be a long night.

  
  


\---

  
  


“Jongin, look what I bought!”

 

Baekhyun flew into their room like a storm, several bags in several sizes and colors occupied both his hands, and even half of his arms.

 

The hero had no intention to get up from bed and gave the other a hand, though. Two whole months of non-stop working, which meant he had volunteered to work even on his scheduled days off, finally showed its impact on his body.

 

Baekhyun, on the contrary, was having so much fun working on paying off their debt. Since the night Minseok introduced him to laptop and the Internet, the demon had been making use of them for whatever worth his interests. And, obviously, food and shopping were his latest ones.

 

“Did you just use up my tips again?”

 

Jongin scowled at the mount of bags in the middle of the room, was so ready to nag Baekhyun about his wastefulness again. Sitting on the floor pulling things after things out of those bags, the demon didn’t hesitate to defend himself.

 

“Excuse you, I’ve bought all of these with my money only, okay?”

 

Jongin’s eyebrows almost reached his hairline once he heard so. “Where did you get that much money?”

 

“Tips, of course.” The demon grinned proudly. “I myself have to admit that I’m damn good at getting money out of people’s pockets. And if you want to know how I do it, you have to pay me first.”

 

“Tsk, no thanks.” The hero looked away from the floral T-shirt Baekhyun had thrown onto his bed. “I’ve already known your secret long before we came here.”

 

“Which is…?” The demon shot his roommate with a challenging glare.

 

“Your seducing skills, what else?” Jongin smirked, secretly regretted moving his neck for now every muscle in his body was screaming with pain. This new kind of torture was really killing him from the inside.

 

“Don’t ever look down on me, Jongin.” Baekhyun warned, but there was little to none of malice in the way he said it. “All clients of Saudade’s bar would have been dead by now if I had really did that.”

 

“I won’t, if you can stop being so stuck up even just for a while.”

 

“Save the words for yourself, hero.”

 

Baekhyun then turned his attention to the fridge, focusing on finding the best way to stuff all the fruits and snacks into it without making it burst into pieces. Knowing the demon wouldn’t need his existence for the rest of the day (unless he found an interesting movie on the Internet), Jongin allowed himself to get back to sleep.

 

The hero could swear that only ten seconds had passed when he was awakened by the feel of something creeping up his spine. A hand had pinned his shoulders down back on the mattress before he could make any moves.

 

“Stay put.”

 

Baekhyun’s voice was right above his ear, and Jongin instinctively shuddered thanks to the coolness of the other’s palms, even though he was wearing a rather thick t-shirt.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” The hero groaned, unsuccessfully pulled himself away from Baekhyun’s ‘claws’.

 

The answer from the demon made him stop and stare. “I’m giving you a massage.”

 

“You what?” The hero asked again, totally confused. Yes, he understood what ‘massage’ meant, even saw Sehun did it to Vivi in his office sometimes, when he thought there was no one around. But Baekhyun? Massaging his back?

 

“Come on, what’s the big deal? It isn’t the apocalypse after all.”  The demon shrugged, hands already beginning to slowly move along the other’s spine.

 

“But why--?”

 

“Shhhhhh! Just….relax, can you? I’m trying to focus here.”

 

And because Jongin knew he was, in some ways, at Baekhyun’s mercy, the hero had no choice but to comply. The feel of the demon’s hands on his back was slightly uncomfortable at first, but Jongin had to admit that Baekhyun had a knack for using his hands, as he seemed to know exactly which spots should be pressed a bit harder and which should be caressed nicely.

 

That suddenly made Jongin wonder again.

 

“Is it just me, or are you being too good to be true?”

 

“Demons can be good when they want.” Baekhyun answered very softly.

 

“Why do you want to be good to me then?” Jongin murmured, trying not to be distracted by the soothing touch of the other’s hands.

 

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun shrugged offhandedly, “Just feel like doing it.”

 

“Then why—“

 

“Can you just stop asking?” The demon snarled, and it seemed to work, since the hero was finally keep quiet and let him do what he want.

  


.

  


“So are you trying to seduce me?”

 

“Just shut up, Jongin!”

  
  


\---

  
  


Work had just been getting more and more demanding every day, now that Jongin was the leader’s assistant of the bellboy team, and Baekhyun the main singer of the longue bar. Because of their different schedules, Jongin had almost always left for work before Baekhyun was still asleep, and came back after the demon had already gone to the bar. If they were lucky, they could bid a simple goodbye to each other, or even seen the other ran around the room looking for their missing socks or contact lenses.

 

Sometimes, when Baekhyun managed to have a night off, he would order fried chickens and waited for Jongin. They would argue later, about whose turn it was to clean up the mess, and the hero would always be the one who did it. Meanwhile, Baekhyun would sat on his bed, holding a big musk of coffee, watching _Tom & Jerry _.

 

Sometimes, Jongin managed to stick around until Baekhyun woke up. The demon would generously put one more super-sized popcorn bag into the microwave, while Jongin struggled to make tomato smoothie. Their breakfast usually would be two bags of popcorn, some burnt pieces of sandwiches, a big musk of coffee for Baekhyun, and mineral water for Jongin.

 

But, one night, it was Jongin’s turn to come home later than his roommate.

 

The man was supposed to stay in for a few days because even the greatest hero could catch a cold. Pouring rain and late nights working had knocked him out, and for the very first time, he was forced, by Baekhyun of course, to call in sick.

 

It was also the first time Jongin saw Baekhyun in the kitchen and not for eating on the sly. That was tense, watching the demon king performing a slow-motion acting scene with a knife and a hundred kinds of ingredients for more than two hours. He knew the smaller had tried his very best.

 

What they had got after Baekhyun’s cooking time was a slightly burning smell permeated the whole apartment, a tiny pot of what look like a semi-viscous liquid, and two heaps of mess - one in the sink and one in the garbage bin. That was it, if a mentally exhausted Jongin and a sweaty and frustrated Baekhyun could be gracefully ignored.

The demon started to seriously consider if his disastrous cooking skills had anything to do with his roommate’s disappearance or not. Come on, at least what he had called ‘vegetable soup’ was still edible, and before he left for work the man still looked fine, at least didn’t get sicker than he had already been.

 

When Baekhyun tried to call, he found out that Jongin’s phone was on the kitchen counter. Except _Saudade_ , the taller man literally had nowhere else to go at this ungodly time. The Below knew he even didn’t inch when Baekhyun literally kicked at Jongin’s shin to wake him up this morning.

 

Then where the puck did he go? And why?

 

Was it an emergency? Was he really food poisoned and the neighbors had sent him to the hospital? No, Baekhyun was quick to deny his own guess, because if something awful had indeed happen, at least he would have received a call from either the hospital or Minseok.

 

Or…Was he abducted? The demon king almost laughed aloud at his own silly thought. Surely, Jongin had got a few of both open and secret enemies at work, not to mention some displeased patrons who had been introduced to his fist back then. The hero himself knew it best. But even if someone indeed wanted to abduct him for revenge, at least the apartment needed to look like there was a storm sweeping through it beforehand. Everything was still intact when Baekhyun came home. Just no sign of Jongin.  

 

Or…Maybe? Maybe Jongin had gone back to their world already? Was it possible that something funny had happen while Baekhyun was away and it sent Jongin back to the Light Realm? No, no, no, Baekhyun continued to debate himself. They had tried the craziest ways, like jumping off a bridge, and still didn’t work. So, unless a meteor fell down right on their rooftop, getting back home was so unlikely to happen.

 

Another 15 minutes passed, and it had drained the rest of patience out of the demon. Despite his weary muscles, Baekhyun grabbed his coat and darted into the night. He wasn’t sure why he was doing what he was doing, but roaming around the neighborhood sounded much better than sitting in a dead quiet apartment and anticipating only the worst.

 

Well, he didn’t have to go any farther than the coffee shop at the first corner to see what he wanted to though.

 

Squatting on the ground was the hero, wrapped in an over-sized black coat which made him looked exactly like an ugly bulky black caterpillar, and beside his feet was a can of dog food. Feeding from his hand was, of course, a puppy. Lost in their own sweet moment, both the taller man and the animal didn’t notice Baekhyun’s presence, forcing the demon to announce it himself by clearing of his throat exaggeratedly.

 

The puppy ran away as soon as it saw Baekhyun, while Jongin’s eyes followed until it disappeared at the end of the road. The demon said nothing, patiently waited for Jongin to stand up and approach him himself.

 

“She’s lost,” explained the hero with his horribly nasal voice, “We ran out of coffee so…”

 

“Never mind then.”   

 

Baekhyun cut him off, then turned around and walked back to their apartment. He believed he had enough reasons to be mad at the other man, but somehow, he just couldn’t be. The street was quiet enough for him to hear Jongin’s footsteps, and seemed like the hero didn’t have any intention to catch up with Baekhyun.

 

So the hero did think that his roommate was angry at him. Baekhyun smiled to himself, considering Jongin’s apologetic expression as a compensation.

 

“Sorry…”

 

The hero mumbled only when the light in the room was off, when he knew he would be safe from Baekhyun’s cold glare under the blanket. His voice sounded like a mosquito, but they’d already known how sharp Baekhyun’s sense of hearing was.

 

The demon was pretty sure that Jongin even didn’t know what he was apologizing for. It was too late, and both of them were too tired for Baekhyun’s lecture. Also, that was the very first time he heard Mr. Impeccable saying sorry. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, which was also worth to celebrate.

 

“Just go to sleep.”

 

Baekhyun finally replied, although Jongin didn’t wait for it to drift off.  The hero had already believed that the world was in peace again. That had been it, ten seconds before the whole universe was crumbled again by a shout coming from a small angry demon.

  


“Where the puck is my coffee!? YAH, JONGIN!”

  
  


\---

  
  
  


There were days when neither of them coming home late, when it was pouring outside and Baekhyun gladly used it as a pretext to take a night off, while Jongin suddenly had no more interest in sleeping his free time away.

 

There were nights like that night, when both of them decided that bickering wasn’t the coolest thing they could do together anymore. That was when the demon king found himself generously share the couch and snacks with the hero, them cackling together at humans’ fevered imagination while doing a supernatural-themed movie marathon. Although both had to acknowledge that not everything in those movies was inaccurate.

 

They had stopped watching before Jongin had to remind his enemy, for the one-thousandth time, not to get offended by those movies’ ending, and how cliché the world they were living really was. And before the demon king got something to vent, the large mug of coffee made by the hero had shut him up. For a while.

 

“Humans are so ridiculous.”

 

Baekhyun murmured. The demon had finished his mug, finding himself half lying, half sitting on the couch, one of his legs were resting on Jongin’s lap while the other stared blankly at it. The hero didn’t react to what he said, so Baekhyun had to kick the side of his shin with the other leg, demanding his full attention.

 

“You’ve said it a million time already” Jongin sighed, throwing a nonchalant glance at the demon, “and you’ve already known that isn’t always true.”

 

“If you’re talking about Jongdae and Sehun, cut it out. They’re the most ridiculous beings out there.”

 

“But you do like them, don’t lie.”

 

“I hate them,” Baekhyun said it almost like a joke, “just like the way I hate you.”

 

The demon didn’t realize that he was smiling while saying so. But Jongin did. Now it was Baekhyun’s turn to be the one watching Jongin’s lips curving up in a pleasant view.

 

Unknowingly, they were asking themselves the same questions.

 

_Why it took him so long to smile like that? And why he was smiling like that right then?_

  


Somewhere in the moment, their eyes met.

  


Silently, awkwardness dropped from the ceiling, crept upon the couch, and filled up the empty space between them.

 

Suddenly, time was frozen.

 

And everything came to a stop.

 

_Tik tok, tik tok._

 

Neither Baekhyun nor Jongin moved.

 

They were lost. Probably in their own thoughts. Probably in somewhere else. But no, neither of them would ever admit it.

 

_Tik tok_

  


_Tik tok_

  


_Tik tok_

  


_Tik-_

  


_BOOM!_

  


A thunder roared. Baekhyun was the first to come back to life. Jongin followed the very next second.

 

For the very first time in his endless life, Baekhyun couldn’t figure out what had just happened, while Jongin should feel lucky that he still remembered who and where he was.

 

That was scary, and Baekhyun decided to pretend that moment had never happened. He believed Jongin would agree.

  


So…What were they talking about again?

  


Jongin cleared his throat, then asked the floor. Maybe they needed a new mat. “You think they’re still looking for us?”

 

“…For you, yes. Me, I don’t know.” Baekhyun replied to the small neon light on the wall. It should be replaced soon. “Maybe no.”

 

“You’re the king,” The hero told his own toes, “your kingdom can’t survive without you.”

 

Baekhyun smirked vaguely at his own hands. Those fingernails needed manicuring indeed.

 

“It’s never been mine. And all it needs is a ruler, not me.”

 

“…”

 

“It’s written in the rules.” Baekhyun continued with a monotonous tone of voice, “There are always instant substitutes for when the king can no longer carry out his duty. Under special circumstances, the substitute could officially ascend the throne. This is one of those certain circumstances, so probably I’ve been replaced, and forgotten already.”

 

Another stretch of silence came to sit between them, but it didn’t make the atmosphere awkward or suffocating. Baekhyun’s leg had no longer rested on the other’s lap. He curled himself up into a quiet ball, staring blankly at his own blurry reflection in the black TV screen. Jongin seemed to be lost in his own world as usual, and Baekhyun didn’t mind it anymore.

 

After all this time, at least the demon had successfully learnt one thing. No matter what was on the hero’s mind, he was still there, using his own presence to prove what he wanted to prove. Clearly to see, communication would forever be the hero’s weakest point. But so what? Jongin’s still been sitting there next to him, like a solid bronze statue, a towering unmovable mountain.

 

Baekhyun had never seen the man shouted his care out that loudly before.

 

It was when the demon was about to stand up and get back to his room that the hero suddenly stopped him with his statement.

 

“If that was true, your courtiers wouldn’t fight that hard to protect you from me. You’ve been a good king, you know?”

 

Baekhyun had to try hard not to blink.

 

Alright, the demon admitted that he was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected to ever hear that from anyone, much less Jongin the greatest hero.

 

Baekhyun had spent all of the time of his existence to prove everything but him being a good king. He broke all the rules, ignored all the advice, doing whatever he wanted without giving a care to what others may think about him. He even refused to follow the way destiny had drawn for him, to take down the most powerful hero and rule both the worlds.

 

“I’m not-“

 

“Shhhh, just relax, can you?”

 

Baekhyun turned around, and Jongin was standing right in front of him. Their eyes met again, and the smile on the hero’s face just got a little wider, brighter also.

 

“How the puck can I relax when you’re this close, you idiot?”

 

The demon got angry, and he himself knew that it was just a pathetic attempt to hide the fact that his cheeks were heating up madly. Baekhyun even didn’t try to expand the distance between him and Jongin, nor did he want to.

 

The hero broke their eye contact just to go get his newly-bought cellphone on the couch. He swiped his fingers along the screen a few times, eyes brightened up when he found what he needed.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Baekhyun couldn’t help asking, but the music had already given him a clear answer. He could tell what song was been playing right at the few first notes. The demon had been singing it all day for a whole week after all.

 

“Thinking out loud. It’s such a nice title, right?” Jongin commented, one hand already reaching towards the smaller, awaiting patiently.

 

The hero didn’t give up even when he spotted a tiny hint of hesitation in Baekhyun’s eyes. It was just a tiny hint anyway.

 

“Dance with me, it won’t kill you.”

 

“I don’t know how…” Baekhyun lowered his eyes ashamed, but Jongin’s hand was still there.

 

“Don’t worry, neither do I.”

 

The hero’s admittance made both of them laugh, also had the smaller hand fitted into his, holding on lightly.

 

And they danced.

 

They danced, and sang, and laughed. Didn’t care of the fact that they was doing it in the clumsiest way. Purposely forgot that actually, they were destined to end each other’s life. They ignored the pouring rain and rumbling of thunder outside. Also the time. Also the world. Also who they were.

 

“Do you still want to go back, Baekhyun?”

 

Jongin asked his last question of the night, only when both of them were too exhausted to do another dance. Baekhyun didn’t want to get on his bed, so Jongin joined him on the floor. The demon was still catching his breath. He knew the hero wouldn’t mind to wait.

 

“Answer it yourself first.” He said through his heavy breaths.

 

“No, I don’t” That was the fastest and surest answer he had ever received from Jongin.

 

The demon turned his head to look at the man lying next to him, watching his own reflection in the other’s eyes. He realized how he missed it, being totally honest to someone else, also to himself.

  


“Well, neither do I.”

  
  


\---

  
  
  


The next morning when he woke up, Jongin realized that he had forgotten to buy coffee, again. The hero knew he might have a chance to escape Baekhyun’s tantrum, if he got ready and headed to work soon enough. But, today was his day off, and Jongin still remembered how Jongdae had warned him not to go to work on such days or the amount of their debt would be doubled. That meant, there was only one option left: He had to go to the 7/11 three blocks from here, buy the coffee, and go back home before Baekhyun woke up, which was could be any time soon.

 

Reluctantly crawling out of bed, with his eyes shut tight, Jongin completely trusted in his feet’s memory to lead him to the bathroom. But either his feet were wrong, or the bathroom’s door wasn’t there anymore, since Jongin had spent half of minute searching for the knob in vain.

 

“What the puck?!” Annoyed, Jongin cursed, forcing his eyes open so that he could see the damn knob.

 

Only that did he noticed, there was no knob or door. What he was looking at was the floor, covered by brocatelle fabric in dark plum color, and the hero found the stains on it too familiar.  

 

Hold on a second. This couldn’t be…

 

“Welcome back, Jongin!”

 

The hero instantly turned to the voice’s direction, and Junmyeon – the hero manager – was standing right at the door, greeting him with that angelic smile of his.

 

Jongin was now sure that he was in his room. His own bedroom, the one in which he had spent his whole life since the day he became a part of the Light Realm. The hero pinched his own bicep hard, and it hurt.

 

So he was home. Jongin didn’t know how, but he had really been home. The hero felt unusually vigorous, which meant his entire powers and magic had come back to him, even stronger and better than before.

 

“Hello, still remember me?” Junmyeon waved his hand, demanding some attention from the hero.

 

“I’m sorry, and it’s nice to see you again, Junmyeon.” Jongin was quick enough to smile and reply, “I’m just trying to find out what’s happening. Last night I was still in…”

 

“The Earth. We’ve already known it. You should sit down though, just in case.”

 

Junmyeon gestured Jongin to sit down on his bed, as the manager carried himself into the room and settled down on a chair nearby.

 

“So what exactly had happened? Why do you know about the Earth?” Jongin couldn’t hold his questions back for long.

 

 _And where is Baekhyun?_ He wanted to ask, but found it inappropriate.

 

“Remember your last due day with the demon king?” Junmyeon started with another question. Jongin nodded, very much impatiently.

 

“Kyungsoo said that in your last attack, when the two intense source of power met, you and Baekhyun had accidentally activated and got sucked into the one of the space gates that lead to the other worlds in the universe. It took us a while to find out what gate it is, a few days to fix it, and some more days to find and bring you back home.” Junmyeon explained, looked openly proud of what he and his ‘colleagues’ had done.

 

“So how could you guys find me in Earth?” Jongin continued with a new question.

 

“Kyungsoo is sending his teammates to other living worlds to experience life as real residents, for research purpose, you know. Luckily, Chanyeol and his team, Sehun, Jongdae, and Minseok were staying right on the Earth, so I asked them to help you. It’s also Chanyeol who helped to bring you back.”

 

Jongin gave it a soft “Ah!” right when Junmyeon finished. “No wonder why they were _that_ good to us.”

 

“Alright, I should let you rest.” Junmyeon stated while standing right up, “The transportation has cost you more energy than you thought, so you had better stay in and rest well. Don’t run around until I let you, get it?”

 

“Yes, Junmyeon.” Jongin nodded his head and complied right away. But, before Junmyeon could close the door behind him, the hero suddenly sprung up from his bed and hurriedly called the manager.

 

“Wait, Junmyeon, wait!”

 

“Yes?” The man was startled, but had got angelic smile back on his lips in no time.

 

“What about Baekhyun?” Jongin decided to ask before he could re-think it. “Did he also go back to the Dark Realm?”

 

Junmyeon blinked, having a race of expressions on his face while he was thinking of what he considered as a proper enough answer. “I’m not sure that he can go back the way we brought you.”  

 

“What do you mean?” The hero was now standing on his feet again, his face was pale and voice stiffened.

 

“I mean, he can’t go back to the Dark Realm unless he dies while on Earth beforehand. His soul has to leave his body in order to be sent back to our universe safely.” Junmyeon concluded, “Basically, he can come back here as soon as his body dies, but the demon king is blessed with immortality, no matter where they are and what they do, so.... Where are you going, Jongin?”

 

The manager barely stepped aside to prevent himself from being swept over by a hurricane named Jongin.

 

“Jongin, where are you going? You can’t get outside now! Come back, I said come back!”

 

Despite Junmyeon’s orders, the hero insisted on heading out of the building, across the yard where his peers were hanging out. Jongin kept walking fast until Junmyeon shouted at the others heroes to hold him back. Two of them had both Jongin’s arms behind his back, while some others stood in one line, making a wall blocking the way to the main entrance.

 

“You little brat!” Junmyeon exploded at him right when he got to the spot. “Where do you think you are going?”

 

“I’m going back to Earth,” stated the hero, loud and clear. He swore Junmyeon’s eyes couldn’t go any wider than they were right then.

 

“You can’t!” The manager growled in suppressed anger, “Haven’t I just told you how dangerous it was bringing you back from that world? Now you said you want to go there again? What’s wrong with you, Jongin? Why do you want to go back there, huh?”

 

Jongin actually could give his superior a long list of reasons why he wanted to go back to Earth. But right at that moment, the only reason that came to his mind was…

 

“I have to buy him coffee.”

  
  


\---

  
  


“Chanyeol, how long do you think it will take him to come back?” Baekhyun asked the big-eyes and big-ears guardian angel, who was laughing with a mouth full of popcorn and having his limbs everywhere watching _Tom & Jerry. _

 

“You mean Jongin? I don’t know.” The guardian replied without thinking about it. “Depends on how strong he is compares to the other heroes in Junmyeon’s team.”

 

Baekhyun squirmed on his seat impatiently. “Then usually how strong he is compares to the other guys?”

 

“Stronger than most, but again, it depends on how fast he can recover from the long trip, and how many guys he has to defeat.”

 

“Which means it will take very very long.” The demon concluded as all of the muscles in his body started to droop.

 

“You don’t have to wait tho?” Chanyeol patted on Baekhyun’s shoulder slightly to cheer him up, “Just find a way to die here and your soul will be sent straight back home, then you can meet Jongin again!”

 

To the guardian’s surprise, Baekhyun skipped the considering step and jumped right to the shaking head step.

 

“No, he has to come back.”

 

The demon took a glance at the mini counter, where an empty box of instant coffee was still looking back at him. Hiding a sad smile by looking up at his own hands, the demon then said, more to himself than anything else.

 

“I’m still waiting for my coffee, anyway.”  

 

_\- The End -_


End file.
